Chapter 4

The Offer

A velvety darkness had fallen over the city of Portland. The harsh glow of the city lights illuminated the sky and the dense cloud ceiling caught the orange glow. The air was still fresh but cool as Damien walked along the dark sideway. Despite the cold though, Damien felt warm and giddy as he approached Samantha's apartment to take her out for the night. Puffs of steam escaped his lips as he trudged ahead, he was so wrapped up in his euphoria that he almost missed the figure standing at the entrance of an empty and dark alleyway. Damien felt cautious as he approached the alleyway and the figure until he saw fully who it was and then panic overwhelmed him. As if the cement was suddenly liquid, Damien felt his feet stick to the ground, not willing to move any closer. The figure had a long trench coat on with a scarf wrapped loosely around his shoulders as he leaned against the brick walls. His gloved hands were carelessly paying with a clear orb with practiced skill and his intense eyes stared out from under the tassels of his platinum blond hair into the orb, ignoring the pedestrian that had stopped. Damien almost hadn't recognized him with his human glamour.

"Well?" The overwhelming voice of the figure called out to Damien still standing in shock, "Are you going to stand there and gawk at me after all these years?"

"Jar—"

"Don't!" Said Jareth furiously to Damien, "Don't use my true name, it's difficult to keep up this damn glamour." As if to emphasize his point, some of the glamour around Jareth's eyes and ebbed away revealing the markings and making his gaze all the more threatening. Damien's mouth clamped shut and waited for Jareth to compose himself and the glamour once again hid the markings, but his eyes still held their intensity. Gazing into them brought back painful memories to Damien.

"What am I to call you then, your Majesty?" Replied Damien dropping into a low bow. Jareth ground his teeth together and grabbed Damien by the collar of his shirt and dragged Damien into the alleyway. Light seemed to drain away, remaining only on the brick walls that were still wet from the rain. For a moment, the light hit the walls in a way that made the alleyway look as if it had been dusted in glitter, much like that of the walls of the Labyrinth.

"Have you become so much like a human that the contagion stupidity has infected you?" Growled Jareth shoving Damien roughly against the damp wall, Damien could feel the cold seep into his clothing. The two were face to face and at the same eye level. Stepping away from Damien frustrated, Jareth ran his hand through his hair.

"Just call me Jerrod Hetherington. No, formalities. You have no reason to use formalities anyway, Damien." Damien looked away.

"Yes I do…Jerrod. Things aren't like that anymore." Said Damien angrily. Jareth just can't understand, he never would.

"Look around you, we're not in the walls of the Labyrinth, nor under the skies of the Underground, this is Aboveground, I hold no such titles here." Jareth turned his back on Damien and folded his arms across his chest. Despite his claim of having no royal formalities here in the Aboveground, he still held himself like a king or of someone of self-importance.

"Speaking of which," said Damien walking in front of Jareth, he was annoyed that his time with Samantha was being taken up by the Goblin King, "what are you doing here in the Aboveground anyways?" It was a rare sight indeed to see the Goblin King in the Aboveground. It usually meant that he was up to no good. As Damien sensed, a sly smile spread across the lips of the Goblin King.

"That is indeed and interesting question, Damien. Wouldn't you like to know?" Jareth said teasingly, but not in a friendly manner.

"Yes," Damien's voiced lowered, "I would like to know." Now it was Damien's turn to grab Jareth by the collar of his trench coat. Jareth's teasing look became one of anger at sheer forwardness of Damien.

"You dare grab me in such a manner?" He demanded in a low hiss. Damien couldn't help but feel his anger rising, Jareth was always like this, his emotions always changing.

"I thought that you had no titles here in the Aboveground?" Damien hissed back. Jareth smiled a feral smile, his emotions changing again.

"Quite." Shaking off Damien's grip. "So, you want to know why I'm here?" Damien nodded, too angry to speak. Jareth's smile widened, if it were possible. Stepping closer to Damien, Jareth lowered his voice to a near whisper. "I'm here for the Champion of the Labyrinth." Damien looked at Jareth confused.

"You mean, Sarah Williams?" The Goblin King grimaced at the pronunciation of the Labyrinth Champion's name.

"Don't speak that name." With an exasperated sigh, Damien pinched the bridge of his nose. The initial shock of seeing Jareth after four years in the Aboveground had worn off of Damien.

"Shall I become a mute as well?" Damien's sarcasm was not appreciated by Jareth.

"I would think that you would know the power of someone's true name, Damien, since you no longer have yours." Damien's patience suddenly broke and he charged after Jareth in blind fury. Suddenly, pain burst into Damien's chest and he fell to the ground writhing from the burning sensation. A knee appeared by Damien's head as Jareth knelt down next to Damien and a crystal came into Damien's line of sight. It glowed softly and intensified with the pain. That bastard. "Now, if you will listen, Damien, I have something to offer you." The burning sensation has ceased and Damien shakily got to his feet and supported himself against the now pleasantly cool brick wall.

"What could…you possible offer to me…that I would be so tempted to participate in your schemes?" Panted Damien trying to recover from the sudden onslaught of Jareth while still trying to keep the venom in his voice. Damien had asked the question that Jareth most wanted to hear from him.

"That is a very interesting question my dear, Damien. But that's not your true name, isn't it Damien?" Said the Goblin King slyly. The familiar frustration rose up in Damien once and again but Jareth stopped him, "What if I told you that I had the power to restore your true name to you?" The alleyway was eerily silent for a long moment as this news receded into Damien's mind.

"You're lying." Whispered Damien in utter disbelief.

"I assure you, it's the complete truth. I am the Goblin King, am I not?" Jareth lowered his voice as well.

"But you do not have that kind of sovereign power." Jareth smiled his taunting smile and the crystal he had been holding at a standstill was once again performing acrobatic feats on his leather clad hands.

"Do you know what this is Damien?"

Annoyed Damien answered, "Of course, it's a crystal. Nothing more." Jareth smiled knowingly.

"But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams."

"I know that, Jerrod," said Damien sarcastically biting back his frustration, "do you expect to charm me to help you in the same way you do to those who wish someone away."

"I have looked into this crystal, Damien, and I know what your dreams are as well as you. Don't you see? I have the ability to grant wishes and dreams. You dream about having your true name back, and I can grant that. All you have to do…is help me." The crystal in Jareth's hand cleared itself before Damien and he gazed into its depths. Images twisted and turned every which-way and soon clear images formed in front of Damien. His place returned to him in the Underground and him returning to his family with open arms. Samantha standing beside his side looking radiant in the traditional wedding gown of the Underground and her calling him by his true name. A deep and long forgotten ach rose up in the pit of his stomach. Suddenly, Damien realized that he was reaching out unconsciously towards the crystal held in Jareth's hand. Damien jerked his hand back with a hiss.

"I can't do this to, Sarah." Jareth's pained expression at her name gave Damien some satisfaction. "She's Samantha's best friend and she is my friend too. I don't know exactly what you have planed for her, but I will not be the one to put her in harm's way." Said Damien resolutely. Jareth chuckled darkly at Damien's ignorance.

"There is no way that I could ever do harm to the Champion of the Labyrinth, remember, I have no power over her." Jareth ended bitterly. Damien believed him. After all, he had witnessed Sarah conquer the Challenge of the Labyrinth and defeat Jareth; he had even been in the ball room where Sarah and Jareth had danced together. He knew that Sarah now had no memory of what had happened in the Labyrinth and it wasn't secret from him that Sarah was also visiting a therapist for memories that Sarah thought were hallucinations.

Damien wanted so badly to reach out and take the crystal that Jareth was offering to him, to just touch the smooth flawless surface and maybe have at least one of his dreams come true. But at the same time, despite what Jareth had said, he knew that he would be hurting Sarah, maybe not physically but certainly mentally. He knew, without Jareth even telling Damien of his plan, the Jareth was seeking revenge. But Jareth played things in games and drew them out as long as possible, like a cat playing with a mouse that it would devour eventually. This would destroy Sarah in the end, Damien knew that. But at the same time it was a well known fact of the Underground that no one had ever completed the Challenge of the Labyrinth, and in not just 13 but 10 hours! If anyone could get out of an impossible predicament, it was Sarah. Even though she was not quite the same since the Labyrinth, he had seen her personality from before slip into the light, rarely though.

"How, then, do you plan to take your revenge on Sar— the Champion of the Labyrinth?" Asked Damien as he painfully stole his eyes from the swimming images in the crystal. Jareth brought his face closer to Damien's, even though Damien was older than Jareth, he couldn't help but feel intimidated by him, age wasn't everything and everything was not as it seemed in the Underground.

"You know that the Champion of the Labyrinth isn't the same that she was when she beat the Challenge of the Labyrinth. Something is wrong. On top of that, I can't see her dreams anymore, most likely, she had stopped dreaming of me. She is plain and boring, she has no spirit or drive anymore. That's not the girl that emerged from the Underground as a Champion. That's not who I want revenge on." Jareth's teeth glinted in the dark alleyway. Damien could see the angry passion in his mismatched eyes. Damien knew that he couldn't possibly imagine the feelings that Jareth kept carefully hidden behind his demeanor and as much as he used to respect the Goblin King, Damien recognized that as a past life. He had come to accept the life that he had now with Samantha and the Aboveground. Along with that, Damien had come to genuinely care for Sarah, he wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her.

As if the Goblin King knew what was passing through Damien's thoughts, he spoke beseechingly to Damien. "You claim that…this girl is your friend, right?" Damien didn't say anything, he only keep his eyes narrowly focused on the Goblin King. "Don't you want her to remember? After all, running the Labyrinth was a very important time in her life, no? How fair is it for her to go on living her mundane and dreamless life without the knowledge of her having a great adventure six years ago, according to the Aboveground." Damien was torn. Everything within his head said that it was wrong to put Sarah in this kind of situation and his own desires before her, he had paid the consequences of doing that already. But his heart was in the gloved hand of Jareth. The two sides of him were at bitter war with each other and Damien no longer knew what was right or wrong.

"I…I…I want to help Sarah." Damien said helplessly as he sank to his knees in defeat. Jareth knelt down sympathetically in front of Damien.

"Indeed you have spent too long with these mortals if you have come up with your confused morals. Don't feel guilty. Letting this weigh you down will only distress you. You don't even have to think about it. Just take this crystal and you have everything back, and more. You can see this as a way of returning a missing piece of her that she had forgotten. And in return, you can have your life back." Jareth held the crystal out before Damien once again and inside the crystal he saw a new image rise to the surface. There were children clinging to him. Next to him, Samantha stood with a small babe in her arms cooing it. Damien exhaled a gasp of air in a great whoosh as if he had been punched in the gut.

"That's not fair!" Gasped Damien shoving Jareth's hand away carefully avoiding the crystal offered to him. Snarling at the phrase, Jareth pushed the crystal closer to Damien.

"Don't say phrases that have no meaning, Damien." Growled Jareth. Damien couldn't help but smile feebly realizing what he had just said.

"All words have meaning, Jerrod." Both of the men stared in contempt at each other, daring the other to speak. Slowly, Damien turned his attention back to the crystal before him. His mind was losing the battle to his desires. His breathing slowed as his fingertips reached out slowly for the small orb and stopped altogether when his fingertips grazed the smooth surface of the crystal that held his children within it.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah." Damien whispered as he took the crystal fully in his hand and gripped it tightly. The Goblin King chuckled darkly.

"There is nothing to apologize for, Damien. And I promise that you will once again be called by your true name by the time it is finished. I have already set my plans into motion. She must recall her old dreams and unstop her deep emotions." Jareth reached down and yanked Damien roughly to his feet. "Don't look so sloppy, Damien. You were of nobility once, what would the courts say if they saw you like this?" Tsked Jareth. Damien pushed away from Jareth's assistance. He felt the contempt for himself rising up, but he continued to grip the crystal in his hand as if it was a precious treasure.

"I don't care. I have no shame anymore damn it." His voice rasped. Jareth tsked once again.

"You should care, you will be among them once again soon enough." A slight mist had started to fall in the alleyway and Damien recognized it as another onslaught of rain soon to come.

"What is it that you wish me to do, Jerrod?" Jareth clapped his hand on Damien's shoulder.

"I've already given her some audition forms for the play coming up. Help her realize her old dreams of being an actress. You and that delightful mortal of yours can help her with that I'm sure, considering your new affinity for the theater." Said Jareth darkly. Damien couldn't help but clench his teeth together when Jareth dared to mention Samantha in that manner.

"Of course, Jerrod, please inform me of any new developments." Said Damien with a heavy heart as he placed his hand over his chest and bowed respectfully. Jareth couldn't help but let a smile escape onto his lips. Everything was falling into place perfectly.

"I will communicate anything to you through that crystal." Jareth motioned to the orb clasped in Damien's vice like grip. Damien nodded his head and turned on his heels and briskly left the dark alleyway and made his way to Samantha's apartment leaving the Cheshire-like smile of the Goblin King in the alley. Tucking the crystal into his deep coat pocket and his thoughts of guilt out of his mind, Damien convinced himself that he was doing this for the future of his family.

Alrighty! There's another chapter for you! More plot! What will happen next? o.0

Yep the update was faster than expected, yay team! But don't expect another one so soon since I'm going back to school...this microecon class with kill me XP

Thanks to all you subscribers who are being patient with me and thank you for reading =) Let me know what you think by either reviewing or sending me a PM, honesty is appriciated but rudness is not.

Thanks,

BLeeB77